Pariah (2011)

Synopsis

Alike (pronounced "ah-lee-kay") is a 17-year-old African-American woman who lives with her parents and younger sister in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood. A gifted student, Alike is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. With the support of her best friend Laura, she is especially eager to find a girlfriend. Wondering how much she can confide in her family, Alike strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity.

It's slow week for new releases, a really slow week. According to Amazon.com, the best selling new release is Contraband. It was the biggest box office hit released in January, but it was still no more than a midlevel hit. The second best selling release of the week is The Innkeepers, which is a sign that it is a slow week. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, but it is a limited release that struggled to find an audience in theaters and it shouldn't be the high on the chart. The third best selling new release of the week is the latest Fullmetal Alchemist release, which is even more surprising, as Anime is still very much a niche market release. The fourth best selling release is Car 54 Where Are You?. Really? I'm surprised anyone remembers that TV show. Are there any releases that are worth picking up? Perhaps even contenders for pick of the week? Actually, The Innkeepers on Blu-ray is in the running, as is Pariah on Blu-ray. However, in the end I went with Todd and The Book Of Pure Evil: Season 1, giving it the rarely awarded Puck of the Week.
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While the Independent Spirit Award unofficially kick off Awards Season with their nominations, they are one of the last to hand out their actual awards, which they did on Saturday. As it has most of the time, The Artist led the way by earning four wins out of the five categories it was nominated it. So which one did it lose? And what were the other winners?
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Iron Lady led a group of six films in the $10,000 earning a per theater average of $55,102. This is better than expected and shows the Oscar buzz for Meryl Streep is overcoming the middling overall reviews. Last week's winner, Pina, remained strong with an average of $23,874 in three theaters. I expect it will expand somewhat and earn a small measure of mainstream success. A Separation opened with an average of $19,827 in three theaters and with possible Oscar glory, it continues to do well. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has already earned a significant measure of mainstream success and with an average of $19,043 in 55 theaters this past weekend, it had its best weekend yet. It did cost $21 million to make, so it will need to continue to do well for quite some time before it makes profitability likely. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close's first full weekend went well earning an average of $18,463 in three theaters. It has a shot at expanding wide in a couple weeks, assuming it holds on relatively well over the next couple weeks. The final film in the $10,000 club was Pariah, which earned an average of $12,145 in four theaters. It earned just over $100,000 from Wednesday through Monday.
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It's the last chance for films looking to earn some Oscar glory and there are three films on this week's list looking to do just that. Unfortunately, the film earning the most buzz, The Iron Lady, is also earning the weakest reviews out of those three. Fortunately, the other two films are earning perfect reviews (A Seperation) or near perfect reviews (Pariah) so moviegoers have options.
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Well... game over. At the beginning of November, 2011's total box office was $340 million behind 2010's pace. We needed that gap to be closed significantly by the end of the month, but it actually grew wider. So now that there's virtually no chance that 2011 will avoid a year-over-year decline at the box office, not unless there's a surprise Avatar coming out this month. But is there at least some hope for the next four weeks? Last December six films reach $100 million, including one that opened in limited release and expanded wide, but none reached $200 million. This year, four are practically sure bets at $100 million, including one or two that could reach $200 million. Plus, there are four others that should make between $75 million and $100 million. I doubt all of them will reach the century mark, but if one did, it wouldn't be a shock. Then there's a couple of limited releases that should expand wide and, maybe, if one of them becomes the big play during Awards Season, it could reach $100 million as well. Even if every film beat expectations, 2011 won't come out ahead. But maybe if enough do, we can at least end the year on a high note. Unfortunately it has come down to that. Instead of talking about the box office record being broken, we are hoping 2011 doesn't end on yet another sour note.
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